Eric de Bisschop
Encyclopedia
Eric de Bisschop was a French seafarer, famous for his travel from Honolulu to France aboard the Polynesian sailboat Kaimiloa.
He spent most of his adult life in the Pacific Ocean, notably in Honolulu (1935–37 and 1941–47) and in French Polynesia
(1947–56); he was not simply a sea adventurer but had a deep interest in the Pacific and its inhabitants, whose history he tried to study.
(Pas-de-Calais) in a wealthy family from northern France; it is said that it was a noble family. It is also said by some sources that Philippe Pétain
was his godfather; it is true that he had very good relations with Pétain (cf. Infra).
Trained in a Jesuites secondary school then as a sailor, he commanded a patrol boat in the English Channel
in 1914–1915, then was transferred to the air force and sustained a serious plane accident (1917).
He built a Chinese junk, the Fou Po and from 1932 to 1935 sailed with Tatibouet in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. In July 1935, they were retained for two weeks by the Japanese in Jaluit (Mariana Islands
) under suspicion of being spies and hardly escaped, towards the Hawaiian Islands
. On October 25, they reached, more than half starving, Molokai Island and were rescued at the Kalaupapa hospital. On the 27th, the Fou Po was destroyed by a storm, with all the scientific work done during these years of seafaring. After a while, they flew to Honolulu.
, but Eric de Bisschop always refused this word) ; he met a Hawaiian woman, Constance Constable, alias "Papaleaiaina", whom he was to marry at the end of 1938).
In March 1937 he and Tatibouet left Honolulu aboard the Kaimiloa reaching Cape Town
in September, Tanger in December, and after a long stay Cannes
in May 1938. In 1939, he published his book Kaimiloa, which was translated in English in 1940.
on the Côte d'Azur.
An notable episode was the hearing of Eric de Bisschop concerning Amelia Earheart, whom he had heard about while he was retained in Jaluit.
with his wife, towards the Marquesas Islands
. But the boat was destroyed in a collision in the port of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria
. Financially helped by Pétain (since June 16, 1940 chief of the Government, then of the State), they waited for the judgment of the case ; in April 1941, Eric de Bisschop was appointed as Consular Agent in Honolulu, the office being vacant since Professor Pecker had resigned in September 1940. They traveled through the USA and reached Hawaii at the beginning of August 1941.
The couple lived in Constance's parents' house, which was ipso facto the place of the Consular Agency. They had some activity as Pétain propagandists (conferences, articles in the Honolulu Star-Bulletin), but on December 13, few days after the Pearl Harbor
attack, Eric de Bisschop was deprived from his diplomatic recognition by the State Department, without explanation. In May 1942, the Constables' house was even thoroughly searched by the Military Intelligence and the four people questioned; Eric de Bisschop was kept under arrest for three days. It seems that they had been denunciated for imaginary crimes. In 1942 Constance de Bisschop wrote two letters to Sumner Welles
to defend her husband. But the revocation was not cancelled when on November 8 happened the diplomatic rupture between the USA and the Vichy Government.
(Rurutu and Raivavae
).
In 1956, he committed himself in a new "odyssey", a project he had had for some years: he built a Polynesian raft in order to cross the eastern Pacific Ocean from Tahiti
to Chile
(contrary to Thor Heyerdahl
's crossing; the Tahiti-Nui left Papeete
with a crew of five on November 8, 1956. When near the Juan Fernández Islands
(Chile) in May 1957, the raft was in a very poor state and they asked for a towing, but it was damaged during the operation and had to be abandoned, but they could keep all the equipment aboard.
; they left on April 13, 1958 towards Callao
, then towards the Marquesas, but they missed their target and were swept along towards Cook Islands
where on August 30 the raft went aground and was wrecked at Rakahanga
atoll.
Eric de Bisschop was the only person who died in this tragic accident. He was buried in the island of Rurutu where he had had his house since 1951.
It seems that she had an artistic activity as Constance de Bisschop in Honolulu during the years ’50 to ’70.
(Morbihan
, in Brittany
). In China, he was working as an inspector of the French police in Hankou
when he met Eric de Bisschop. After the Kaimiloa odyssey, he was the eponyme of a book written by François de Pierrefeu, a friend of Eric de Bisschop's : Les Confessions de Tatibouet (about the Fou Po travels).
During the construction of the Kaimiloa, he must have met a Hawaiian woman, Annelie Knaack, graduate (Tourism Business) of the Hawaii University, whom he married in Cannes on December 24, 1938. They came back to Honolulu in 1940.
In 1948 they created their own hotel near the Waikiki
beach, the Royal Grove Hotel, origin of the Aston Hotels.
Their son André S. Tatibouet, born in 1941, has been a protagonist in the economic and political life in Hawaii.
He spent most of his adult life in the Pacific Ocean, notably in Honolulu (1935–37 and 1941–47) and in French Polynesia
French Polynesia
French Polynesia is an overseas country of the French Republic . It is made up of several groups of Polynesian islands, the most famous island being Tahiti in the Society Islands group, which is also the most populous island and the seat of the capital of the territory...
(1947–56); he was not simply a sea adventurer but had a deep interest in the Pacific and its inhabitants, whose history he tried to study.
Early life
He was born in Aire-sur-la-LysAire-sur-la-Lys
Aire-sur-la-Lys is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in northern France.-Geography:The commune is located 10 miles southeast of Saint-Omer, at the junction of the N43 with several departmental roads, by the banks of the Lys and the Laquette rivers.-History:Aire-sur-la-Lys is mentioned for...
(Pas-de-Calais) in a wealthy family from northern France; it is said that it was a noble family. It is also said by some sources that Philippe Pétain
Philippe Pétain
Henri Philippe Benoni Omer Joseph Pétain , generally known as Philippe Pétain or Marshal Pétain , was a French general who reached the distinction of Marshal of France, and was later Chief of State of Vichy France , from 1940 to 1944...
was his godfather; it is true that he had very good relations with Pétain (cf. Infra).
Trained in a Jesuites secondary school then as a sailor, he commanded a patrol boat in the English Channel
English Channel
The English Channel , often referred to simply as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates southern England from northern France, and joins the North Sea to the Atlantic. It is about long and varies in width from at its widest to in the Strait of Dover...
in 1914–1915, then was transferred to the air force and sustained a serious plane accident (1917).
China and the Fou Po
After the War, he went away to China in 1927. There in 1931 he met the man who was to be his team mate for the seven next years, Joseph Tatibouet.He built a Chinese junk, the Fou Po and from 1932 to 1935 sailed with Tatibouet in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. In July 1935, they were retained for two weeks by the Japanese in Jaluit (Mariana Islands
Mariana Islands
The Mariana Islands are an arc-shaped archipelago made up by the summits of 15 volcanic mountains in the north-western Pacific Ocean between the 12th and 21st parallels north and along the 145th meridian east...
) under suspicion of being spies and hardly escaped, towards the Hawaiian Islands
Hawaiian Islands
The Hawaiian Islands are an archipelago of eight major islands, several atolls, numerous smaller islets, and undersea seamounts in the North Pacific Ocean, extending some 1,500 miles from the island of Hawaii in the south to northernmost Kure Atoll...
. On October 25, they reached, more than half starving, Molokai Island and were rescued at the Kalaupapa hospital. On the 27th, the Fou Po was destroyed by a storm, with all the scientific work done during these years of seafaring. After a while, they flew to Honolulu.
Hawaii and the Kaimiloa
During the year 1936, they built a Polynesian "double canoe" (a catamaranCatamaran
A catamaran is a type of multihulled boat or ship consisting of two hulls, or vakas, joined by some structure, the most basic being a frame, formed of akas...
, but Eric de Bisschop always refused this word) ; he met a Hawaiian woman, Constance Constable, alias "Papaleaiaina", whom he was to marry at the end of 1938).
In March 1937 he and Tatibouet left Honolulu aboard the Kaimiloa reaching Cape Town
Cape Town
Cape Town is the second-most populous city in South Africa, and the provincial capital and primate city of the Western Cape. As the seat of the National Parliament, it is also the legislative capital of the country. It forms part of the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality...
in September, Tanger in December, and after a long stay Cannes
Cannes
Cannes is one of the best-known cities of the French Riviera, a busy tourist destination and host of the annual Cannes Film Festival. It is a Commune of France in the Alpes-Maritimes department....
in May 1938. In 1939, he published his book Kaimiloa, which was translated in English in 1940.
France (1938-40)
During their stay in France, the de Bisschops frequently met Maréchal Pétain, notably in Pétain's estate in Villeneuve-LoubetVilleneuve-Loubet
Villeneuve-Loubet It lies between Cagnes-sur-Mer and Antibes, at the mouth of the Loup River.It was created by the joining two old villages: the old village of Villeneuve inland and the village of Loubet on the shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
on the Côte d'Azur.
An notable episode was the hearing of Eric de Bisschop concerning Amelia Earheart, whom he had heard about while he was retained in Jaluit.
The Kaimiloa-Wakea and Hawaii
Eric de Bisschop then built a new boat, Kaimiloa-Wakea and on June 14, 1940 left BordeauxBordeaux
Bordeaux is a port city on the Garonne River in the Gironde department in southwestern France.The Bordeaux-Arcachon-Libourne metropolitan area, has a population of 1,010,000 and constitutes the sixth-largest urban area in France. It is the capital of the Aquitaine region, as well as the prefecture...
with his wife, towards the Marquesas Islands
Marquesas Islands
The Marquesas Islands enana and Te Fenua `Enata , both meaning "The Land of Men") are a group of volcanic islands in French Polynesia, an overseas collectivity of France in the southern Pacific Ocean. The Marquesas are located at 9° 00S, 139° 30W...
. But the boat was destroyed in a collision in the port of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria
Las Palmas de Gran Canaria
Las Palmas de Gran Canaria commonly known as Las Palmas is the political capital, jointly with Santa Cruz, the most populous city in the Autonomous Community of the Canary Islands and the ninth largest city in Spain, with a population of 383,308 in 2010. Nearly half of the people of the island...
. Financially helped by Pétain (since June 16, 1940 chief of the Government, then of the State), they waited for the judgment of the case ; in April 1941, Eric de Bisschop was appointed as Consular Agent in Honolulu, the office being vacant since Professor Pecker had resigned in September 1940. They traveled through the USA and reached Hawaii at the beginning of August 1941.
The couple lived in Constance's parents' house, which was ipso facto the place of the Consular Agency. They had some activity as Pétain propagandists (conferences, articles in the Honolulu Star-Bulletin), but on December 13, few days after the Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor, known to Hawaiians as Puuloa, is a lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. Much of the harbor and surrounding lands is a United States Navy deep-water naval base. It is also the headquarters of the U.S. Pacific Fleet...
attack, Eric de Bisschop was deprived from his diplomatic recognition by the State Department, without explanation. In May 1942, the Constables' house was even thoroughly searched by the Military Intelligence and the four people questioned; Eric de Bisschop was kept under arrest for three days. It seems that they had been denunciated for imaginary crimes. In 1942 Constance de Bisschop wrote two letters to Sumner Welles
Sumner Welles
Benjamin Sumner Welles was an American government official and diplomat in the Foreign Service. He was a major foreign policy adviser to President Franklin D. Roosevelt and served as Under Secretary of State from 1937 to 1943, during FDR's presidency.-Early life:Benjamin Sumner Welles was born in...
to defend her husband. But the revocation was not cancelled when on November 8 happened the diplomatic rupture between the USA and the Vichy Government.
French Polynesia and the Tahiti-Nui
It seems that he spent the rest of the war in Honolulu. He left Hawaii and his wife (without ever divorce) in 1947 and went to French Polynesia, where he became a merchant seaman for 4 years. In 1951 his trade failed and he got an administrative job as geometer in the Austral IslandsAustral Islands
The Austral Islands are the southernmost group of islands in French Polynesia, an overseas collectivity of France in the South Pacific. Geographically, they consist of two separate archipelagos, namely in the northwest the Tubuai Islands consisting of the Îles Maria, Rimatara, Rurutu, Tubuai...
(Rurutu and Raivavae
Raivavae
Raivavae is an island that is part of the Austral Islands in French Polynesia.It sustains a population of 905 people on of land. Its highest point is the top of a dead volcano which is 437 meters high.It was annexed by France in 1880....
).
In 1956, he committed himself in a new "odyssey", a project he had had for some years: he built a Polynesian raft in order to cross the eastern Pacific Ocean from Tahiti
Tahiti
Tahiti is the largest island in the Windward group of French Polynesia, located in the archipelago of the Society Islands in the southern Pacific Ocean. It is the economic, cultural and political centre of French Polynesia. The island was formed from volcanic activity and is high and mountainous...
to Chile
Chile
Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
(contrary to Thor Heyerdahl
Thor Heyerdahl
Thor Heyerdahl was a Norwegian ethnographer and adventurer with a background in zoology and geography. He became notable for his Kon-Tiki expedition, in which he sailed by raft from South America to the Tuamotu Islands...
's crossing; the Tahiti-Nui left Papeete
Papeete
-Sights:* Interactive Google map of Papeete, to discover the 30 major tourist attractions in Papeete downtown.*The waterfront esplanade*Bougainville Park -Sights:* Interactive Google map of Papeete, to discover the 30 major tourist attractions in Papeete downtown.*The waterfront...
with a crew of five on November 8, 1956. When near the Juan Fernández Islands
Juan Fernández Islands
The Juan Fernández Islands are a sparsely inhabited island group reliant on tourism and fishing in the South Pacific Ocean, situated about off the coast of Chile, and is composed of three main volcanic islands; Robinson Crusoe Island, Alejandro Selkirk Island and Santa Clara Island, the first...
(Chile) in May 1957, the raft was in a very poor state and they asked for a towing, but it was damaged during the operation and had to be abandoned, but they could keep all the equipment aboard.
Chile, the second Tahiti-Nui and the death
In Chile a second Tahiti-Nui was built in ConstitucionConstitución
Constitución is Spanish for "constitution" and may refer to:Geography*Argentina**Barrio Constitución, a neighborhood in central Buenos Aires, where the Constitución train station is located....
; they left on April 13, 1958 towards Callao
Callao
Callao is the largest and most important port in Peru. The city is coterminous with the Constitutional Province of Callao, the only province of the Callao Region. Callao is located west of Lima, the country's capital, and is part of the Lima Metropolitan Area, a large metropolis that holds almost...
, then towards the Marquesas, but they missed their target and were swept along towards Cook Islands
Cook Islands
The Cook Islands is a self-governing parliamentary democracy in the South Pacific Ocean in free association with New Zealand...
where on August 30 the raft went aground and was wrecked at Rakahanga
Rakahanga
Rakahanga, part of the Cook Islands in the central-southern Pacific Ocean, is one of the most unspoiled places on earth. The atoll is 1,248 kilometres from the Cook Islands capital, Rarotonga and lies 1,111 kilometres from the equator...
atoll.
Eric de Bisschop was the only person who died in this tragic accident. He was buried in the island of Rurutu where he had had his house since 1951.
Constance de Bisschop
Born around 1905, she was proud of her Polynesian blood (25 %), reason of her alias Papaleaiaina. She had had a daughter (Yolanda) from a first marriage. After their separation she met her husband in Papeete only once, when the Tahiti-Nui was about to leave (1956) and had friendly relations with the Polynesian woman whom he had been living with for years.It seems that she had an artistic activity as Constance de Bisschop in Honolulu during the years ’50 to ’70.
Joseph Tatibouet, alias Tati
Born on October 27, 1903, he was from La Trinité-sur-MerLa Trinité-sur-Mer
La Trinité-sur-Mer , is a commune in the Morbihan department in Brittany, in north-western France.It is located east of Carnac. The town is primarily a port, with a seaside quay dotted by numerous seafood restaurants...
(Morbihan
Morbihan
Morbihan is a department in Brittany, situated in the northwest of France. It is named after the Morbihan , the enclosed sea that is the principal feature of the coastline.-History:...
, in Brittany
Brittany
Brittany is a cultural and administrative region in the north-west of France. Previously a kingdom and then a duchy, Brittany was united to the Kingdom of France in 1532 as a province. Brittany has also been referred to as Less, Lesser or Little Britain...
). In China, he was working as an inspector of the French police in Hankou
Hankou
Hankou was one of the three cities whose merging formed modern-day Wuhan, the capital of the Hubei province, China. It stands north of the Han and Yangtze Rivers where the Han falls into the Yangtze...
when he met Eric de Bisschop. After the Kaimiloa odyssey, he was the eponyme of a book written by François de Pierrefeu, a friend of Eric de Bisschop's : Les Confessions de Tatibouet (about the Fou Po travels).
During the construction of the Kaimiloa, he must have met a Hawaiian woman, Annelie Knaack, graduate (Tourism Business) of the Hawaii University, whom he married in Cannes on December 24, 1938. They came back to Honolulu in 1940.
In 1948 they created their own hotel near the Waikiki
Waikiki
Waikiki is a neighborhood of Honolulu, in the City and County of Honolulu, on the south shore of the island of Oahu, in Hawaii. Waikiki Beach is the shoreline fronting Waikīkī....
beach, the Royal Grove Hotel, origin of the Aston Hotels.
Their son André S. Tatibouet, born in 1941, has been a protagonist in the economic and political life in Hawaii.